KARACHI: The city administration has sealed the shopping mall on Rashid Minhas Road a day after a fire killed 11 people inside.
Eleven people were killed and scores other sustained injuries when a huge fire ripped through a six-storey building in Karachi’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar area in the early hours of Saturday. The officials said the deaths occurred because the shopping mall had no ventilation.
The post-mortem report of the nine bodies showed that all of them died of suffocation. According to rescue officials, the fire that broke out at around 6:30 am engulfed the fourth, fifth and sixth floors of the building.
Meanwhile, Caretaker Chief Minister Sindh Justice (R) Maqbool Baqar has ordered a safety audit of all commercial buildings, public spots and offices, saying fire incidents were taking place because the inspection had been abandoned in the city.
He directed the Sindh Building Control Authority, Civil Defence, Provincial Disaster Management Authority and deputy commissioners/assistant commissioners concerned to carry out safety audit of all public and commercial buildings, educational institutions, and government offices and submit their report along with recommendations.
With a population of 20.3 million, Karachi is the country’s economic hub and is home to a vast network of high-rises, but the city’s firefighting infrastructure is inadequate to deal with any emergency like situation.
